ISBG
by seamoose97
Summary: Meet team ISBG (pronounced Iceberg), a team of four, training at the same time as both team RWBY and JNPR. ISBG will learn how to be proper hunters and huntresses, and protect people from the dangers of Remnant. It won't be easy, and some will struggle with the task laid before them. But with an unseen threat looming, they will have to learn fast.
1. Chapter 1

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon, my name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among the privileged few that have received the honour of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is…" Ivy had started to ignore what Ms. Goodwitch had to say as she looked out the window of the ship. When compared to her home back in Mistral, Vale had a more modern vibe to it. Yet, despite this more modern atmosphere that was presenting itself to Ivy, it felt cold and hollow to her. This impression however, could be due to her feeling homesick. Lost in her own thoughts, Ivy failed to notice the mammoth of a human being who had walked up beside her.

Beacon soon became visible to the naked eye, and with that students began to crowd the glass, eager to get the first glimpse at their new school. The giant next to her, whom she had still failed to notice let out a whistle.

"Definitely not home anymore." He said, directing his words towards Ivy.

It took her a moment to realize that someone was trying to talk to her. It took a moment longer to realize that there was a crowd surrounding her. Her eyes widened for a brief moment with surprise as she realized she was no longer alone. Finally she responded to her neighbour.

"Oh… Yeah… Very different." she replied, still somewhat inattentive.

Her neighbour seemed to take note of Ivy's brief moment of surprise and confusion. To counter this, he extended his hand to the black haired girl.

"Sorry, I should probably introduce myself," he said "I'm Bran."

Ivy looked at Bran. He was a hulking behemoth of a human being, standing at what Ivy estimated to be seven foot nine. Alongside his height, he was quite muscular, which could be seen simply by looking at the massive arms that protruded from his red, sleeveless shirt. With his shirt he also wore bright orange pants that had what looked like a drawing of a meteor stitched onto his thigh, presumably his symbol. He had hair that was lightly coloured, though it was so short that it was difficult to specify just which colour it was, as well as bright orange eyes to complete the look. After taking a moment to both compose herself and regain focus, she extended her hand towards Bran and spoke.

"My name is Ivy," she said enthusiastically "I'm from Mistral."

Bran beamed as he shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you Ivy."

"Nice to meet you too." She replied in turn delighted to have someone to talk to.

Bran, obviously feeling a bit uncomfortable in the large crowd, shuffled his feet, unsure on how to make more room for himself. Ivy noticed this, and gave him an empathetic smile.

"Wanna get out of this crowd?" she asked.

Bran gave a quick nod followed by a "Mmmmmhmmm." and began to make his way out of the crowd, followed in short by Ivy herself. After finally exiting the crowd, they began to search for some free seats. They found two by the back and made their way for it post haste.

"So where are you from then?" asked Ivy "You don't look like you're from Mantle and you said that this isn't like your home, so you're either Vacuo or Mistral. Am I right?"

"Vacuo's the correct answer." said Bran in response to Ivy's Question "Good old desert country, I miss it already."

Ivy pondered her next response. "If you miss it so much, then why not go to Shade?" she hesitated, realizing that she had in fact sounded quite rude. "I mean you seem nice, but why come here?"

Bran took a few seconds to give an answer, looking as though he were in deep thought about it. "Gotta spread my wings some day yunno? Besides, hunters and huntresses travel quite a bit, so why not do some of my own beforehand?" he paused, satisfied with his answer. "What about you? Why here and not Haven?"

Ivy gave thought on her own reasons for choosing Beacon, her dark green eyes narrowed as she searched for her own answer. "I guess I've always liked the idea of a clean slate," she stated, confident that it was a sufficient answer. "I'm not a criminal or anything, just the idea of knowing next to no one really appealed to me."

"I get it." said Bran "Don't worry, I think this is gonna be fun."

On the opposite end of the flying ship, a racoon tailed faunus dressed in white and red seemed to be aimlessly strolling through the craft. He was listening to music on his headphones and bore a blank, yet not oblivious look on his face. Despite the appearance of having no objective, he was, in fact, simply searching for a seat. It was getting a bit too crowded by the glass for Gwyn's comfort. As he scanned the crowd, he saw a few familiar faces from Beacon here and there, like a girl dressed in yellow with long blonde hair. He didn't take the time to say hi because he would rather keep to himself. He finally found an open seat on a small bench and took it for himself. Soon after Gwyn had taken his seat, he realized that there was, in fact someone else sitting next to him. At the moment, his neighbour was asleep. Said person next to him wore a black coat that trailed down to his over regular looking clothes which had blue accents and plating on it. He sat, hunched over with his Black hair draping over his face.

Turning his attention from the person beside him to the crowd of people by the window, Gwyn became lost in thought. He twirled the four crystal necklace in his hand while his eyes looked back to the stranger next to him. A voice came from the person next to him.

"Can I help you?" asked his neighbour.

Gwyn replied with a surprised "What?"

The stranger beside him opened his eyes to reveal heterochromic eyes, one brown and one a bright, icy blue. He stared at Gwyn, making him feel very uncomfortable. The face of the person next to him twisted into a small grin.

"I said What are you looking at Gwyn?"

Taken aback by the stranger's knowledge of his name, Gwyn hesitated before he managed to form a coherent reply.

"Ummmm, I'll be honest, I was just zoning out… and… umm, how do you know my name?"

The unknown student next to him re adjusted himself to a more comfortable position in his seat to reply.

"You checked into the flight just before me, and I have a good memory. Also, when someone dresses like that, they're not exactly one to blend in. White really sticks out." The stranger motioned to Gwyn's outfit as he spoke.

Gwyn looked down as if to confirm it were still the case.

"Well technically, it's white and red." he said with a wry smile.

"Whatever it is, it hurts my eyes. I saw another person dressed in similar colours, she was giving some poor guy an earful for whatever reason. Don't think you're her though."

"And why is that?" asked Gwyn.

"Because she was wearing a dress." he said with a chuckle.

A small laugh escaped from Gwyn as well.

"Umm, who are you by the way?"

"Sinen Viksima."

"Is it okay if I call you Vick?" asked Gwyn

Sinen let out a laugh before going deadpan.

"If you do I'll kill you."

They both laughed quite loudly after that. Gwyn was surprised, when he first saw Sinen, he didn't seem like the kind of person to be easygoing. Life was full of surprises and apparently Sinen was one of them.

Bran walked alongside the girl clad in purple and green. Ivy had started talking more since they had first met which put Bran at ease. He was worried at first about meeting new people especially considering his background. The fact that there was at least one person willing to talk to him was a victory for his first day at Beacon. They disembarked from the ship once it docked and watched as a tall blonde and scraggly looking student push by them to find the nearest trash can. Bran couldn't blame him, he had locked himself in one of the washrooms on the ship when it first took off. It seemed that flying disagreed with him as well. A small breeze was flowing through Beacon causing him to shiver slightly.

"What's wrong?" asked Ivy

"I'm from Vacuo remember? The cold does not exist there, not really anyways."

"I'm sure you'll get used to it." remarked Ivy.

"I guess I will," he replied "So, what's Mistral like then?"

Ivy paused to consider her answer.

"I grew up in a small village in the swamps of Mistral which was, well, about as pleasant as you'd expect. I moved to the city when attending Sanctum which was more pleasant, the city itself is nothing special but it keeps us safe. Can't say much about Haven Academy though, never visited there." Ivy paused, satisfied with her answer. "How's Vacuo?"

"Hot, hot ,hot, and slightly cooler at night. I never really visited the city myself, stayed more out in the wilderness."

Bran saw Ivy's jaw drop slightly in shock.

"You lived outside the kingdoms? That sounds terrifying."

"If you know what you're doing it's not too bad and I knew what I was doing. So do the people I lived with."

"You've got to tell me some stories about that sometime." Said Ivy

"I will," replied Bran "But not right now, I think we should get to the assembly now."

Bran and Ivy followed after a crowd of other students into an assembly room. They pushed pass a few people to find a spot with a good view of the stage. On this stage stood a tall slender man with grey hair, tinted spectacles, a cane, and a coffee mug. It had to be Ozpin.

Ivy leaned over and whispered to Bran

"Yunno I always expected him to look like, I dunno, older, maybe with a beard. Know what I mean?"

"Not entirely, but I'll humour you." he said with a grin

Ozpin took a moment to scan the students before him before speaking .

"I'll, keep this brief. You have come here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you an all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first steps."

With that, Ozpin strode off the stage while Glynda took his place.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready."

Then Glynda too walked down from the stage. Bran and Ivy looked at each other, both with a puzzled look on their face.

"Not exactly what I'd call an uplifting, welcoming speech." said Bran

"To be fair, I doubt being a professional hunter is always adventure and romance. Maybe it was a welcome to reality speech?"

Bran scratched his chin

"Maybe."

The two of them set off for the ballroom.

It was nearing nighttime in Beacon and Sinen was laying on his sleeping bag, staring at the ceiling. He was not thinking about anything in particular, but rather already preparing for initiation tomorrow. He currently wore regular pyjama bottoms with a long sleeved shirt and gloved hands. Sight focused on the ceiling, he was trying to ignore the sound of two bickering sisters near him. Giving up on being able to find any bearing of peace at the moment, he began to close his eyes to fall asleep. A moment later there was an audible thud as Gwyn fell onto his own sleeping bag net to Sinen. No longer, wearing his toque, Gwyn's white hair draped over his forehead.

"Sup?" said Gwyn

"Well, first I was trying to prepare for tomorrow and that wasn't working. Then I tried to get some sleep, now I guess I'm not doing that either."

"Nope, not happening." smirked Gwyn

Sinen made a rude gesture at Gwyn who let out a small chuckle in response. Sinen twisted onto his side to face Gwyn.

"Have any ideas as to how they'll divide the teams?" asked Sinen.

"I dunno," Gwyn said in reply "Roll of the dice? Observation of our skills? Could be anything really, they don't really say much about it do they?"

"They really don't," responded Sinen with a nod of agreement "We should try to be on the same team though right?"

"Definitely." Gwyn replied, fist bumping Sinen lazily as he responded. "I hope tomorrow goes well."

Sinen let out a quiet "bah!" and waved his hand in a dismissive manor. He readjusted so he was lying on his back again, staring up at the ceiling.

"If everything goes well tomorrow, it means nothing interesting happened. Besides, I'm looking

forward to going up against Grimm." Sinen said.

Gwyn responded with a perturbed look which in turn caused Sinen to laugh. The room darkened abruptly which the two took as a signal to go to sleep. Sinen's voice broke the silence for a brief moment.

"See you tomorrow."

"Mhmm."

Ivy awoke to the sound of the loudest, most hyperactive morning person she had ever heard. Said person was in the process of waking up her own friend but had also woken quite a few others, including Ivy. She groggily gathered together her belongings, washed up and ate. She headed for her locker so she could grab her gear for initiation. She was halfway to the lockers when she ran into someone familiar.

"Pyrrah?"

"Ivy? How are you?"

"I'm good thanks, I didn't know you were going to Beacon!"

Pyrrah gave a sheepish smile.

"Yeah I never really talked to anyone about where I was going. It's nice to see you."

"Right back at you. I gotta go grab my gear. See you in the field maybe?"

"If we're lucky then perhaps."

Pyrrah waved goodbye and flashed a brilliant smile to Ivy as she watched the mostly raven haired girl rush towards the locker.

Ivy arrived at her locker and was met by a terrifying sight.

A man was present before her in a mask entirely made of a thick metal which also covered the mouth, there was a glowing patch over one eye while the other remained exposed and was bright orange. He wore two plated gauntlets which had the words "GOOD" and "LUCK" engraved across the knuckles. In his left hand was a large Axe with a saw blade where a regular blade should be, with an opening at the tip and a trigger near the bottom. If the man wasn't so large, he would be holding it two-handed on principle. A metallic voice came from the mask.

"Hey, you like the helmet?"

Ivy shook her head to rid herself of astonishment.

"Bran? You look terrifying!"

"That's the point."

"How do you see out of it?"

Bran tapped the glowing patch on his right eye.

"This compensates for any peripheral vision lost."

"And the weapon?"

"I call it Glassed Fire." he said, clicking a button that made the blade spin "It's a saw bladed axe that fires.. well, let's actually keep that a surprise."

Ivy put her purple streaked, black hair into a ponytail and opened her locker. In there was a set of muted green and purple armour with a mace that had a dark purple head and a green shield. She strapped on her greaves and bracers followed by the breastplate which made an audible clanking noise as she dawned it. Finally came the helmet which looked like a cowl with plating at the back of the head and purple tinted goggles over the front. She did up the metal chin strap and grabbed Woodland Guard and Midnight Storm and placed the shield on her back and the mace in a loop in her belt. She nodded at Bran and they made their way to their destination.

While Bran and Ivy were leaving, Sinen and Gwyn were still getting ready. Sinen sat grinning at Gwyn with his two-handed langes messer sword; Sky Shrike draped across his back while he fiddled with the many pocket that he had strapped to his belt.

"Seriously? Just that? No armour? No Gear? Just civilian clothes?" mocked Sinen

"Laugh all you want." snarked Gwyn, rolling up his sleeves to reveal a blue tattoo on his left arm as he holstered his axe, Tundra Fissure on his back. "It's done me good so far and I'm not gonna change."

"How the hell do headphones help you in a fight anyways?" said Sinen, his words conveying a tone of dry cynicism.

"Hey! Don't knock the headphones."

Sinen stopped fiddling with his belt, stood up and brushed off his coat tails. He readjusted his gloves, the left one being a full glove and the right being fingerless and made sure his coat was fit snuggly enough around him to keep his sword from jostling against him through its built in holster on his back. They started off towards initiation but had to stop briefly when Gwyn realized he nearly forgot his four crystal necklace and rushed back to get it. After that brief moment they made their way to the cliff by the Emerald Forest.

Each hunter and huntress was told to stand on a specific platform before initiation began. Sinen found himself standing on a platform next to the girl he had seen giving someone a hard time on the ship. She wore white and red just like Gwyn and carried a dust rapier. He looked at her and gave her a smile which was met with an ice cold glare and a head turn. 'Note to self' he thought, 'stay off her team.' Sinen gazed down the row looking for Gwyn who was standing between a big guy in a disturbing metal mask and a girl carrying a mace and shield. He keened his ear to Ozpin who explained that the first person they made eye contact with in the forest would be their partner. This statement was met with an amusing cry of dismay from a younger looking girl in red and black near the end of the line. He thought he might have heard her name before too, it was Ruby if he remembered correctly.

Bran was barely listening to Ozpin as he explained what they were doing. To his credit though, Bran heard enough to actually know what he was doing. It had been too long since he last saw some action and was itching for the platform to launch. He looked over at Ivy past a white and red Faunus and nodded his head at her. She returned with a smile, constrained by the chinstrap of her helmet, but a genuine smile all the same. He felt the unfamiliar cool breeze brush by his bare arms. He scanned the forest, he couldn't see anything in the trees unlike the unshaded desert of Vacuo. Hopeful the branches would help soften his landing, but the prospect of not being able to predict where the Grimm would be added a small layer of doubt to his very apparent enthusiasm. He felt his platform move and let go a cheer of enthusiasm as he was flung into the air, and soon, towards the uncertainty of the Emerald forest.

Gwyn glanced nervously as the first few people were launched into the air. He knew how to properly land from a great height, he just didn't like the concept of having to do it in the first place. He assumed an athletic stance and began to brace for the incoming spring. He took out his axe in preparation for helping himself land. He was glad that he wasn't the only one who was nervous though. It seemed as though the guy at the very back didn't even know what a landing strategy was. The person in the mask to his immediate left was launched into the air with an adrenaline fuelled "WOOOOOOOOOOOO" streaming from his voice. He felt the force of the platform increase underneath him, extended his legs and pushed off the platform and into the air.

Ivy kept readjusting her armour, listening to it jostle rather than Ozpin's directions. She knew she had to land, find a partner (hopefully Bran), find a relic, and find a way out. It was a simple task and not something that overly concerned her. She was looking forward to working with a team and she hoped that they'd get along well. Grimm weren't a worry either, as a matter of fact Ivy was rather looking forward to the beginning of initiation amongst the uncertainty from others around her. She began to hear the telltale spring noises of the platforms and her fellow classmates being launched into the air. She heard and saw Bran as he was launched into the green below. Knowing that her launch was coming, she pressed a button on her shield that condensed into a rectangle across her arm and notched her mace into it, watching it become a gun. She watched as the person next to her was launched and braced herself. The platform began to push on her and she began to push off of it in turn and let the feeling of weightlessness take her.

Sinen had paid attention to every word that had exited Ozpin's mouth, hoping that he could glean as much information from the professor's mouth as possible, hoping he might slip up and give beneficial information. However, details on the task at hand were quite vague compared to what Sinen hoped to glean from Oz. He tried not to smile as he performed his final equipment check before he himself was launched into the air. Finding the artifact within the forest would be easy. As for the landing, he smiled as he pulled out from his belt a knife with a rope attached to it. There was a mixture of excitement and fear in the air that was palpable to him which only contributed to his own excitement. He pulled his sword slightly out of it's scabbard just to check that everything was copacetic with his weapon. He scanned for a safe spot on the forest to land, but judging off of the first few students who had already been launched, it was out of his range in terms of sight. He furrowed his brow and refocused. He jumped with the spring of his platform, rope-dart in one hand and extended his arms spread eagle as he soared towards the forest.


	2. Chapter 2

The wind rushed through Ivy's hair as she sailed through the air. She guided herself through the air to the best of her ability as she felt gravity take hold of her again and pull her toward the ground. Ivy gripped her gun in both hands, keeping a firm hold on it as she levelled it to aim. As she aimed, Ivy was able to see some of the taller trees in her peripherals. She could see as her peripherals became a green blur. She placed her thumb on a button on the left side of the grip of her gun and then pressed on the button. Ivy felt her shoulder absorb the recoil of the shot as it launched a grappling line that wedged itself inside a tree ahead of her. As she fell further, the rope went taut and she felt herself swing upwards. When she had reached the apex of her flight, she deconstructed her gun back into its original mace and shield form. Ivy then threw her shield at the ground as hard as she could with her right hand. It hit the ground right before she hit the ground herself. She landed on the shield and surfed on it, using the edges of the shield to bring her to a complete stop. She stepped of the shield and stomped on it, sending it upwards and being caught in her right hand again. Ivy fully attached the shield to her arm, dusted herself off, and began to venture deeper into the forest.

He felt like he must have done this thousand times before, Sinen was used to this. Being accustomed to falling from the sky was likely not something most could put on their theoretical resume. But Sinen was one of the people who could consider himself used to this. As he fell towards the ground, rather than slow himself down like a normal person, he aimed straight down in a nosedive. The whistle of the wind in his ear became even more high pitched as he gained speed. Eventually his eyes began to water with the increase in speed, but Sinen pushed aside the discomfort and reminded himself to focus. Taking the knife part of his rope dart in his right hand, he began to stretch the rope across his torso. Sinen shifted his hand to the rope about a foot away from where the blade was. He swung the rope around and let go of the bladed side while still keeping the majority of the rope in his left hand. The knife sailed through the air and hit a tree branch with a solid thud. Seeing that it had hit, Sinen wrapped the rope around his left arm and gripped it with his right arm too. He felt his rope go taut, which lead to him swinging upwards. He let go of the rope, but instead of sailing into the air once more, he grabbed another tree branch and swung around it like a gymnast on the rings. When his feet were facing the ground again, he let go and let the momentum carry him downwards alongside gravity. Sinen hit the ground with no noise, and stood up. He rotated his shoulders in a shrugging motion and then began to run.

—

Ivy walked through the forest, staying on high alert incase there were nearby Grimm or fellow students. She wondered what everyone else's plan was, was it to find the objective immediately or to find a partner. When she thought about it though, they were all still first year students so some might not even have a plan. She walked through the forest with a brisk pace, checking her surroundings once again in case of an ambush. Ivy lifted her shielded arm to her face and clicked a button on her goggles. Her goggles lit up with light and connected to her scroll. The goggles were of her own design. they could track aura level and a general sense of her surroundings. As she took in the information that her goggles displayed to her, she noticed three small blips on her built in radar. Ivy slowed to a stop and keened her ear to the surrounding area. Soon after doing that, Ivy heard the telltale growl of a Grimm. She slowly approached the area that the three blips were being displayed and saw three Beowolves come into her field of view.

The beasts turned to greet Ivy with their burning red eyes, glaring at the young huntress in training. Ivy tensed at the sight of them, gripped briefly with fear, followed by a burning anger that she could feel in the pit of her stomach. She readied herself as she focused on the positioning of the three Grimm. The one in the middle of the pack began to approach her directly while the other two circled to her right and left. Ivy slowly backed up until she felt a tree brush by her shoulders. Some might have said that she was in a bad position, but if she played it right, Ivy was in the perfect position. The beowulf that had approached her directly finally began to rush her. Without hesitation, Ivy ducked as the Grimm flew over her head and crashed into the tree behind her, breaking it down as it hit said tree. The other two Grimm began to charge her from her flanks simultaneously. However, Ivy could tell that the beowulf on the right was just slightly faster than the one on the left. Ivy blocked the beast's attack with her shield and used it's momentum to launch it over her head into said Grimm's counterpart on her left. Soon after, the one that had crashed into the tree had recovered and was charging Ivy again. Ivy jumped over the beast and landed behind it. Using her mace, she swung at the back of its legs with such force that it actually spun the beast around so that it was facing her once more. Ivy allowed the momentum of her swing to carry her around full circle, and hoisted her mace above her head. She brought down the mace with such force that when the mace hit the beasts skull with a crunch, left a small crater on the ground as it was caved in. She finished the beast just in time to see one of the other two remaining Beowolves charging her. Ivy thrust her mace into the chest of the beast and activated the built in taser which fried the beast until it was dead. Ivy could feel the final Grimm approaching her from behind. She gave her hand a simple wave, not giving mind to the beast. To the surprise of the beast, it was hoisted into the air by a branch that curled around its neck, hoisted it into the air and squeezed until it went limp. Ivy took a moment to survey the small amount of carnage she had caused and went on her way.

Ivy continued on through the forest for some time, until she felt that she had covered good enough distance to reach a safe area and slowed to a stop. She mentally examined what she knew she was doing. When looking at it, Ivy had no idea where she was or even where she was going. All she knew was that she could see the cliff that they had all been launched from. She felt a pang of frustration as she realized she had no idea what she was doing. Ozpin said that they were supposed to find artifacts hidden in the northern end of the forest. But he never hinted as to what to look for, whether it be in a cave, tree, or if they were just supposed to find them through sheer dumb luck. Ivy didn't even know what the artifacts were supposed to look like. But, she had somehow managed to get into Beacon, which means they saw her potential, they accepted her into this school, she must have what it takes.

The lone huntress made the decision to put as much distance between her and the cliffs as possible, that seemed to be the best possible strategy at the moment. As Ivy walked through the forest, she relished the silence that engulfed her, it reminded her of home. As soon as she connected the silence to home, Ivy was overcome with a wave of homesickness that was accompanied by anxiety. She tried her best to suppress these thoughts as she soldiered onward, deeper into the forest. Rather than acknowledge her creeping anxiety, Ivy decided to enjoy the peace and quiet that had eluded her since arriving at Beacon. She pondered the possibility of her running into another student on her journey, there had to be at least one person in the forest who still needed a partner. Personally, Ivy hoped it was Bran, because even though they had just met, he seemed nice enough when they talked. Granted, even though he seemed nice, the thought of spending four whole years with the first person she laid her eyes on was a frightening thought, even if it was Bran. Ivy's train of though was derailed when she heard a scream coming from the northeast. Ivy began to run towards its point of origin.

Ivy sped to a slow jog as she hurried towards to the huntress in peril, while keeping her eye on her radar for any Grimm. She wasn't running for to long, as she saw some poor guy being thrown through the air westward. Ivy began to head westward to help the poor guy, but came to a stop when five blips appeared on her radar. Using her semblance, she called a tree branch down to her and hoisted herself up into the trees to get a better look at the Grimm. She could physically see only two of the blips from her radar, it was an Ursa and another student. The student stood still in a black and blue plated, leather frock coat, with a sword strapped to his back. Ivy positioned herself just above the Grimm. Gripping her mace with two hands, Ivy jumped from the branch and landed on one of the Ursa, bringing her mace down on its head with a sickening crunch. Subsequently, she whirled around, putting all of her strength behind her swing, catching the second Grimm on the side of its head, sending it crashing into the trees t her right. At that moment, Ivy saw the two final blips on her radar come into view, two more Ursa. She raised her shield and readied herself for the oncoming attack. Ivy heard a distinct whistling sound in her ear followed by a quiet thud as two small knives had embedded themselves into the skulls of the charging Ursa. They exploded violently soon after hitting their mark causing the two beasts to drop dead. Ivy turned to her fellow student who was recovering from his follow through from throwing the knives with his arms extended. Ivy removed her goggles to better take in the student as her eyes met his. Her new partners eyes were different colours, one a dark brown, the other an unsettling icy blue.

"Hi."

Ivy's attempt to greet him were responded in kind with an uncomfortable silence.

"I had that handled." was the only reply he gave Ivy.

Ivy furrowed her brow, mildly perturbed.

"Excuse me?" She said.

"I appreciate the help, but I had it handled."

Before Ivy had a chance to respond, her new partner spoke again.

"I'm Sinen." he said, extending his hand. "Who are you?"

"I'm Ivy." She said.

The handshake broke, and the two of them stood there once again in momentary silence.

"So," said Ivy "You know where you're going?"

—

Sinen ran as fast as he could between the trees, his feet barely making a sound. He had no idea where to go, but he was more likely to find his way if he just kept moving. He didn't know what exactly he was looking for, but he figured that he'd know it when he saw it. Sinen knew enough about the Emerald Forest to know that various ruins were scattered throughout. It was likely, he thought to himself, that his objective could be near some of those ruins. The problem was, Sinen didn't know where exactly said ruins were. Fortunately there was any easy solution to this issue; finding higher ground. Sinen looked to the tree branches above him and focused on them. Now standing on a branch, he began to cli the tree until he reached the top. He scanned the forest for anything unusual or out of place. Despite failing to find anything notable, he did see a taller tree just due west of him. Sine disappeared back into the trees and continued in the direction of the taller tree.

Jumping from branch to branch, Sinen allowed his mind to wander outside the parameters of his current mission. Soon enough the thought of being on a team crossed his mind, and what it would mean for him. The thought of a team frightened him, he wasn't sure if he was ready for another team. To add to that, Sinen thought he worked well enough alone, sure he could work with a team but it wasn't something he desired at the moment. He came to the conclusion that, whether he liked it or not, he was going to be put on a team, and he'd have to learn to deal with it. When considering the partner that would form his team of two, Sinen only really knew one person who he could say he knew well enough to consider partnering up with, Gwyn. He hoped that he'd find Gwyn and be partnered with him. It had been a while since Sinen had had such an easy time talking with someone, and he felt at ease around Faunus and hoped that he would find him out in the field. He was jolted from this train of thought when he heard a strange noise coming from below, it was a Creep.

Seeing such a small Grimm could make one forget just how truly dangerous they could be, especially in greater numbers. Sinen drew a knife from his belt, and scanned around the creature, making sure there were no Grimm hiding nearby. Seeing none, Sinen leapt from the tree and landed on the creature feet first. After landing on it and pinning it, he raised the knife above his head and brought it down, piercing the neck of the Grimm. It squealed pitifully until it started to dissolve. Sinen cleaned the blood from the knife and placed it back in its sheath that was hooked on to the back of his belt. He began to run again, in the direction of the taller tree, only slowing anytime he thought there might be a Beowulf or an Ursa stalking him from the unseen. Sinen finally arrived at his destination and began to climb the tree.

The climb itself wasn't too difficult and Sinen soon found himself at the top of the tree, overlooking the vast, green landscape. He could see much more of the Emerald forest, this also included a small set of ruins due northwest of him. Sinen made a mental note of the direction he should continue in and descended from the tree. While continuing down the tree, he noticed four Ursa padding around the area below him. One of the beasts was circling the tree while the other three skulked behind bushes that would have rendered them out of site from Sinen were he at ground level.

"If I didn't know any better," he said to himself "I'd say that they were setting up a planned ambush. This should be fun."

Sinen teleported to the ground, right in front of the Ursa that had been circling the tree until now. He looked right into the glowing red eyes of the beast and glared back at them. He also made a mental note of where the other three were positioned. One of the Ursa lunged at him as he prepared to teleport again. Right as the Grimm was about to swipe at Sinen, he saw a human figure dart past him from above. Sinen was surprised, to say the least, how he didn't see this person before baffled him. He teleported to a safe distance away from the other person's mace. Sinn observed as the girl before him dispatched two of the Grimm with relative ease. It was impressive to say the least, however, she seemed oblivious to the other two that had begun to charge her, a careless mistake. In one swift motion, Sinen drew two throwing knives from his belt, clicked a button on them and hurled the blades at each of the Ursa. They landed directly in between the eyes of both Grimm and made a popping sound as they exploded, decimating the skulls of the beasts. The other huntress was wearing goggles that she removed to reveal bright green eyes. There was a brief, uncomfortable silence that was then broken by the huntress.

"Hi." She said, breathing heavily from the fight. Sinen assumed that it was more likely adrenaline than lack of stamina.

"I had that handled." He said, unsure of what else he could say.

The green clad huntress frowned, her jaw restricted by her chin strap.

"Excuse me?"

'Damn' he thought to himself 'I just sounded rude didn't I?'

"I appreciate the help, but I had that handled."

'Much better' he thought.

Sinen extended his hand, "I'm Sinen," he said "who are you?"

He felt her grand grasp his with a firm handshake.

"I'm Ivy." She said.

There was another brief, but uncomfortable silence, once again to be broken by Ivy.

"So," she said "You know where you're going?"

—

Ivy was surprised to here that her new partner did, in fact know where he was going. She listened to her new friend as he explained that he saw ruins to the west, in the same direction that she had seen the screaming blonde kid thrown. Her new partner, Sinen seemed quite confident in both his abilities and where he was going. Usually she Ivy appreciated confidence, but seeing as she did't get a thank you for saving his life rubbed her the long way. Despite that though, she was gonna have to deal with it. In addition to his seemingly overconfident manor, Sinen's Blue eye looked at her with such intensity that it made her uncomfortable.

"Why would it be by the ruins?" She asked.

"It's not likely that they'd put they'd put whatever we're looking for in a nondescript location. It would make more sense to put it somewhere noticeable."

She had to admit, his logic wasn't bad, and she liked the comfort of having a plan. Until then Ivy had been winging it, which was not the best plan in hindsight. Regardless of that, she now had a course of action to follow, which was quite comforting.

The two hunters walked through the forest with the uncomfortable silence hanging over them once more. Ivy wanted to break the silence and start a conversation so she could learn a bit more about her knew partner, but he was silent. Sinen seemed to glide through the forest rather than walk, only focused on what was ahead of him. In response to Sinen's silence, Ivy remained quiet herself. It remained like this for a while until Sinen was the one who broke the silence.

"You from Mistral?" He asked her.

"How'd you know that?"

"Lucky guess."

Ivy wasn't sure she believed that.

"Yeah, a little town near the swamps." She replied "What about yourself?"

"I was born in Mantle, but I've done a lot of travelling, I've been to some of the smaller towns in Haven, they're nice."

Ivy's thoughts drifted to home and her Dad. "Yeah," she said, "They are pretty nice, and most of the time they're quiet enough. But when they're not." She tensed slightly before continuing, "when they're not quiet, it's quite an event."

Sinen nodded, Ivy could see him out of the corner of her eye, she pondered what he was thinking but he was extraordinarily hard to read. At the moment he looked as if he were trying to work out a very complicated puzzle as they were talking.

"How do you fight in your armour?" he asked.

Ivy concluded that if he was working on some sort of puzzle in his head, it wasn't going well.

"what d'you mean?" she asked, feeling defensive,

"I know speed isn't a necessity when fighting Grimm but your armour doesn't look too flexible. How do you move properly?"

Ivy looked at her armour, it had served her well for a long time but she did know it was on its last legs. It was't going to last for much longer, and it did restrict her movement every so often.

"You're not wrong. I'm working on something new, hopefully it works better. What about you? My armour may not be too flexible, but it gives good protection, but you? You don't have much."

Sinen tapped on one of his few metal plates.

"I have them where I need them, I let aura take care of the rest when it needs to."

"Sure but it has a limit, and you still feel the pain."

"I'd prefer to not be hit in the first place, and if I get hit then I'll deal with the pain in my own way."

Sinen's self assurance, while unusual, was somehow very reassuring as well, it put her more at ease. He must have seen her react because he tried to lighten the mood in his own way.

"Besides," he said "Someone I met yesterday wears casual street clothes for combat, so if he's fine, then I'm fine."

A few gears clicked in Ivy's head, she hadn't considered the possibility that Sinen knew other people that he might have been hoping to pair up with. Perhaps his initial, mildly confrontational manor was a disappointment. She had to admit that she was initially hoping to be paired with someone she already knew like Pyrrha or Bran.

"You come here with any friends?" asked the young huntress.

"No." he replied

"What about the guy you met yesterday?"

"Him? He's nice enough but I've only known him for a day, that's not even remotely long enough to determine whether we're friends or even if we want to be friends. Same goes for you and me, it's not personal, it's just how I see things."

It was as if Sinen had read her mind, it helped her put him into a better perspective. He wasn't rude and overconfident, just blunt and self-assured. She still wasn't sure if she was a huge fan of it but, for some reason she felt more at ease. Ivy decided to steer their conversation back to what they were originally discussing.

"So what about you?" asked Ivy "You said you traveled a lot? See anything interesting?"

"Yes." said Sinen

"Like what?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

Ivy didn't get a response as Sinen disappeared in the most literal sense, leaving only a blue outline of himself that disappeared moments later. A few seconds later Sinen returned, bringing back the new outline and then Sinen himself in short order.

"Two Beowulves just up ahead, be careful."

Ivy swore and re-equipped her goggles and checked her radar. Sure enough, there were two blips to the northeast. She felt dumb for a moment, she should have kept her goggles on. Lucky enough Sinen somehow managed to hear something and double check. Ivy focussed up and gripped her mace with both hands. Sinen looked poised to charged until Ivy reached out and grasped his shoulder. Sinen looked back at Ivy with confusion.

"There are only two of them." he said

"Sure, but lets play it safe just in case. The less noise we make the better and all that stuff. We don't want to attract any more Grimm here. You go into the trees and drop down on one of them, I'll strike from the bushes." She said "Heh. I'll am-BUSH them."

Sinen nodded while rolling his eyes in response to her bad pun. He disappeared once more, leaving Ivy alone. Keeping herself masked by the buhes, I've snuck around to the right where one of the Beowolves was. She extended into her aura to call on her semblance and felt a cluster of roots surface beneath her feet. Ivy took a deep breath and did a mental countdown from three and used the roots beneath her to add momentum to her strike, pushing off them ass they carried her upwards, landing an uppercut with her mace on one of the Grimm. The beast lay still and began to dissolve. The second began to charge for Ivy but was stopped when there was a whistling noise followed by a 'thunk'. The Grimm that had been charging Ivy was then hoisted backwards and upward by a rope while Sinen descended using the same rope. The beast was suspended for a few seconds and twitched until it went limp. Seeing the battle was over Ivy approached Sinen and gave her partner a pat on the shoulder.

"Nice job." She said, smiling "Hell, you made way less noise than I did. Why didn't you use your sword though?"

"My what?" Sinen asked as though he wasn't aware he had one.

"Your sword." Ivy said, motioning to the blade.

"I mean it wasn't like I needed it for that."

Ivy was surprised, for her, her Mace and Shield were her bread and butter when fighting. When she looked at Sinen she could genuinely say that she had never met another hunter, whether in training or professional who carried as large a variety of tools as he did.

Ivy's train of thought came to a halt at the sound of more growling, she couldn't see the Grimm just yet but she knew it wasn't her imagination, Sinen was alert too. They stood back to back, waiting to see where the creature would strike from. The pair of them maintained their position for at least a minute. Ivy looked at Sinen in the corner of her eye who looked back at her. She motioned with her head toward the bushes to suggest actively hunting the Grimm down. They began to approach the bushes until the realized that the growling wasn't just becoming louder, but more frequent as well. The Grimm emerged from hiding to reveal not one but six large, angry Ursa. The beasts began to charge the two students. Ivy raised her shield with her right hand and adopted a fighting stance. She felt Sinen's hand on her shoulder urging her backwards.

"Flight, not fight this time." Said her companion in a quiet and calm demeanour. "These aren't normal Ursa, look closer, their bigger stronger and more protected. We won't win this, not right now at least."

Ivy assessed the situation and nodded in agreement. He was right, they needed to leave.

"On the count of three, grab me and grapple us out of here."

Ivy clicked a button on her shield which made the outer trim rotate and raised her shield arm towards the trees.

"One" said Sinen

The air was still.

"Two"

Ivy took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Three!"

Ivy wrapped her arm around Sinen as he threw a pellet to the ground which exploded in a bright light while Ivy clicked another button on her shield which launched the line into the trees and hauled them away.

The pair of them ran in the trees for some time to make sure they truly lost the Grimm and descended to the ground. They were both slightly out of breath. Ivy let out a small laugh og election which caused Sinen to chuckle in return. The laughter turned raucous and lasted for a few seconds before they regained their composure.

"That was way too close." Sinen said, Ivy saw him smile for the first time.

"Thankfully, we're still on track." replied Ivy "If I understood you correctly we should be close."

They pushed on without interruption for another kilometre until they met a clearing. They had made it to the ruins. It looked like they weren't the first ones to make it to this place. The Ground was filled with Nevermore feathers and ice crystals which had just started to melt.

"Whoever they are, I hope they're ok." said Ivy in a concerned tone.

"They should be, they trained for this."

They approached the ruins to find black and gold chess pieces placed on pedestals.

"Those have to be it." said Ivy.

"First times the charm." Sinen said wryly.

"Or beginners luck." she replied, teasing her partner.

Sinen smirked "That only applies to beginners though."

It seemed to Ivy as though Sinen was slightly more friendly now. That had to be a win.

"Let's grab one and go." she said.

Sinen nodded in agreement and went to choose their piece. But before they could get there, there was a loud noise behind them that distracted them. Following the noise, two humanoid figures began to come into their view, Sinen squinted as he looked up to see them. Ivy put on her goggles and zoomed in on them flying through the air.

"Is that?" she said hesitantly, "Bran?"


End file.
